Making up the mind: China, Revolutionary or not?

Tang Xiaohe
Strive Forward in Wind and Tides,
 1971, Private collection

"China’s government is no longer in any sense revolutionary." (1)


"Many contemporary methods of governance have their roots in techniques of policy generation and implementation dating to the revolution and early PRC—techniques that emphasize continual experimentation. China’s long revolution had given rise to this guerrilla-style decisionmaking as a way of dealing creatively with pervasive uncertainty. Thus, even in a post-revolutionary PRC, the invisible hand of Chairman Mao—tamed, tweaked, and transformed—plays an important role in China’s adaptive governance." (2)


"Some Western intellectuals take the view that an economy can enjoy rapid growth only in a society where the political system is fully democratic. They find it astonishing that in a nation where politics is far from transparent the economy can develop at such an impressive pace. But they are overlooking, I think, a crucial point: behind China's economic miracle there is a pair of powerful hands pushing things along, and their owner's name is Revolution." (3)


(1) Stephen R. Platt in The New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/12/opinion/sunday/is-china-ripe-for-a-revolution.html)
(2) Goodman in Sebastian Heilmann and Elizabeth Perry, eds., Mao's Invisible Hand: The Political Foundations of Adaptive Governance in China. Cambridge： CUP. Other title from Goodman might be relevant – book chapter – the interdependence of state and society.
(3)  Chapter "Revolution" in: YU Hua (余华) (2011) China in Ten Words. Translated from the Chinese by Allan H. Barr. Pantheon Books, New York. P. 113. Emphasis added.